I'll Never Let Go
by Tend to Infinity
Summary: Many years later, Jessie takes one last trip back to Terabithia.


I'll Never Let Go

Tend to Infinity

"And that, class, is Glycolysis," the teacher, Mr. Johnson, announced to the class, concluding his lecture at his class of confused, hormonal teenagers. "Any questions?"

The class looked like it had a lot of questions. They all seemed to be listening, but they didn't seem to get it. Perhaps Mr. Johnson was trying his luck lecturing a Junior class on something that the Seniors were supposed to have a basic grasp on, perhaps he was too interested in making sure his class was the smartest.  
One child, however, was not listening. Not at all. He was staring out of the window from his seat at the back of the room. The room seemed silent to him, bar a strange, low buzz that was gently flying in an out of his ears. Jessie certainly had other things to think about.

"Hey," a voice from far away whispered. He continued to stare out of the window until he felt an elbow touch is arm. "You there, Jessie?"

He shook his head, as if he had just come up from being underwater (it certainly felt like that), and looked to his side. A girl was looking at him with a confused look. "Jessie?" she said, again.

"Yeah, I'm here," he muttered, looking back to the window.

It was his friend, Laura. She had been friends with him since they had met in freshman year. When Jessie wasn't with her, he was alone. He wasn't with her often... "I can't believe he's teaching us this," Laura complained, looking down at her notes.

"Yeah, outrageous," Jessie muttered, not paying real attention. He felt his head sinking beneath the water again.

"Are you listening?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Apparently not," she shook her head. "Anyway, do you want to go out tonight, after school?"

Jessie turned his head. She was looking at him, looking hopeful. "Sorry," he said. "I have something important I need to do tonight."

"Oh," she said, looking down again, disappointed.

"Maybe tomorrow," he told her, "OK?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "All right then."

"OK then, class, make sure you do your homework," Mr. Johnson told them. "Read through the book, it'll help you. I'll be doing a test on Friday," the class groaned. "Tests aren't bad if you know what your talking about," he grinned. "So make sure you do!"

The class groaned again as the bell rang and made its way to the door. Jessie pulled his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the door. Once again, he felt under water. This was no coincidence. He often felt like this. "All right then, see you tomorrow, Jessie," Laura said, nodding at him.

"Yeah, later," Jessie replied, heading in the opposite direction.

Jessie walked through the school, avoiding any contact, in any way, with anyone else in his high school. He headed to the school car park and went to his old, rusty car. It wasn't really his, his dad had given it to him when the dad needed a van instead, it helped him carry more around. He unlocked it and got in.

The journey home was interrupted only by a quick trip to the local store. "Hi, Jessie," the store owner, at the register, said to him.

"Hi," he said, absent mindedly.

He headed over to the "drinks" section and grabbed a bottle of coke. Coke was quite expensive, so he never got it at home. It was a two litre bottle, a definite "treat". He also grabbed a box of paper cups and headed to the cash register. "Anything else?" the store owner asked.

"No," he said, handing her the money and heading out of the shop.

From there he headed down the road home. It was so covered in dirt that you could barely see the road itself. He headed left, down the long drive to his house at the end of the private dirt road in the middle of nowhere.

However, he did not stop at the house. He left the car down the middle, at the side of the road, and headed sideways, going through the bushes to an old field. He headed through the field, everything passing into a blur, and into the forest that he hadn't been to in so long.

The forest spread out in front of him, the green looking like his drawings against the perfect sky. It was clear, a perfect day. He walked through the nettles, not bothering to pull his jeans down to make sure he didn't get stung, and saw a familiar sight. At least, it used to be familiar.

The old bridge he had built was dirty, covered in leaves and cobwebs. He headed over it, trying not to look at it's awful state. He had put so much work into this. Not any more, he tried to avoid the land.

Terabithia was in front of him. The places he had danced, fled and called were just trees. The wild animals he once fought, like a valiant hero, were just squirrels. Trees, dirt and rocks. The magic was gone.

He walked through the way he used to walk, down to a place he had spent every hour when he wasn't at school or eating. The old tree house, the ruins of yore. It was a sorry building now, hanging on to the tree. Every creak from wind sounded like a cry for help. He put the coke and cups in his pocket and climbed up, onto the floor that he had built. He looked to the old paint cans he had never moved, to the tree that had almost killed him. The only thing that had changed was an old, small table in the middle of the "room", with two small chairs.

Jessie wiped his eyes and headed over. He pulled the cups out of his pocket and lay two on the table. He grabbed the coke and poured it in, making sure not a drop disturbed the house. Once they were both full, he sat down on the old chair and looked over to the empty one ahead of him.

He picked up the cup, and raised it in the air ahead of him. "I'll never forget you, Queen Leslie," he said, a tear trickling from his eye. "I love you."

And he swore that the chair moved closer toward him.


End file.
